It’s hot today, so there’s really only one posting option…
This links up for a number of reasons too. It’s from the French TV show Dimanche Martin (a play on “Dimanche Matin” or “Sunday Morning”). During this period I had a great big aerial on the top of my Brighton seafront flat pointing at France, and during periods of warm weather I was able to pick up French TV. The necessary modifications to my TV to allow me to do this were done during extended tinkering sessions during which I would loop Prefab Sprout albums. This was also the period where we had BIG storms, and I spent quite a lot of the winters expecting a great big aerial to be bouncing elegantly down the front of the Regency façade and totaling an expensive car parked below. My nerves eventually broke and I had it taken down. But not before learning French and discovering the wonderful author, Boris Vian, who often used the anagram Bisonravi, d’ou, comme il disait lui-meme, mon nom de plume. Sort of. I had to drop the ‘i’ from the end to avoid a pack of trolls. There is no ‘I’ in Sproutology, after all.
This recording isn’t from that TV hobby however. Sproutology is an often devious and shadowy occupation, and to receive a set of rather wonderful French TV recordings it was necessary for “bisonrav” to engage with various dodgy individuals in Russia, a sort of TV collecting mafia. Western Union payments were required. But you get all of this for free, and with nothing on your conscience…
And it’s a nice one. Jacques Martin always seemed to me a cheesy character – I watched the show on occasion but don’t recall this one – but he insisted on live performances and so we get a live vocal from Paddy: quite a rare thing. There were a number of French appearances on a sort of mini promotional tour, recognizable by Paddy’s linen suit and dodgy moustache, but all apart from this one were lipsynched. European TV slots are like hens teeth. If you have any dusty old VHS or spot the Sprouts on a retransmission (especially Spanish TV, Rockopop and others seem to get aired a lot) then shout. The usual “wonderful things” are available for those that help.